ValueClick Publishers

[MaxS]

What do you guys think about the declining rates?

I'm getting .25CPM for 728/468 Banners, .20CPM for SkyScrapers, and .33CPM for Medium Rectangles.

If I compare this to the rates from 4+ months ago, they're horrible.

Any Burst fans here? I may display burst ads and default to VC ads -- as I heard the burst CPM rates are slightly higher (with a much smaller fill rate).

:bawling:

[Chris]

Burst ads are definitely better. VCM isn't worth it as anything more than a 2nd or third or fourth tier.

[MaxS]

Anyone know anything about 'Burst Direct'? When I applied to Burst, maybe a year or so ago, I was accepted into their Burst Direct program.

As far as I know, this is basically for their 2nd tier publishers? Should I contact them and apply for Burst (my traffic is much higher, at the moment).

[Mal]

Burst Direct is basically their attempt at offering the same service as ValueClick offers, although it's not been that successful as far as I can tell.

Burst's main network features well paid, branded and high quality advertisers but suffers from a low fill rate - it also does insertion orders but those are rare.

Burst Direct is where the not-so-good advertisers end up. The ones that use horrible looking ads or are too risky to run on the main network. Burst Direct was supposed to have a higher fill rate but they've so far not achieved this.

[MaxS]

Thanks for the info, Mal. I'm going to contact them and try to get moved over.

[jonnyhilfiger]

Yep, VC rates are the pits, Burst rates for me are pretty much double or slightly more on all the ad formats I run but Bursts fill rate is laughable for me. As a result I still earn 4x more with VC than I do Burst :(

John

[MaxS]

Burst won't move into their main network. A large majority of my traffic is from social networks (Bebo, Xanga, MySpace, Wordpress Blogs, etc) -- and apparently they only want niche websites.

What a shame, I'm getting all this traffic but I'm still stuck with VC...

[Mal]

Sorry to hear that. It does appear that they are more careful about what sites they allow into the network these days. Have you tried Tribal Fusion? They are Burst's main rival.

[MaxS]

No, not yet. Although I meet all the requirements, I'm waiting for my Alexa ranking to lower (right now it's ~90,000 but should be 70kish soon).

...Yes, I actually think that's a factor.

(that said, if anyone knows someone that knows someone ;))

[Mal]

I'm sure you could boost your Alexa rating legitimately by simply suggesting it as a useful toolbar to your site's visitors. :)

[MaxS]

When I said:

(that said, if anyone knows someone that knows someone )
I wasn't referring to someone at Alexa.

But yes, that's definitely an idea. The Alexa rank is steadily decreasing (or increasing, depending on how you look at it) so it's only a matter of time.

[Chris]

in related news

http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com: 20070221:MTFH56381_2007-02-21_22-54-30_BNG139584&type=comktNews&rpc=44

[Westech]

Try Casale if you haven't already. They should perform well with your type of traffic.

[MaxS]

Try Casale if you haven't already. They should perform well with your type of traffic.
I'm not sure if I should apply yet. Considering the majority of the traffic is MySpace users, it's going to take a hell of a lot of traffic to get me in.

[Todd W]

in related news

http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/articlehybrid.aspx?storyID=urn:newsml:reuters.com: 20070221:MTFH56381_2007-02-21_22-54-30_BNG139584&type=comktNews&rpc=44

If they keep their payout the way they are now in a couple years from now it will be exactly the opposite... :sick: I've already started dropping FC over hte last couple years for private ads.

[Mal]

If they keep their payout the way they are now in a couple years from now it will be exactly the opposite... :sick: I've already started dropping FC over hte last couple years for private ads.
I dropped Valueclick a few months ago, after using them for well over five years. As a publisher it has become too much effort deselecting their dodgy advertisers, or alternatively selecting the huge volume of good advertisers. In its current state there appears to be two distinct groups of advertisers on their network, the small untrustworthy ones that tend to pay low CPM rates and the big brand advertisers paying in CPC... if you run a site where advert quality is required then all they are good for is filling the last level of defaults with CPC ads.

Although, if we experience another internet bubble in advertising then I'm sure I'll start using them again.

[MaxS]

I've only been a VC publisher for about 2 years but I definitely see a trend. Not only are the CPMs decreasing, but I do see more 'dodgy' ads being accepted.
(i.e: their current 'Britney exposed' ad, etc)

[john190]

Yep, since FastClick became VCM, the pay rates dropped. I am seeing roughly the same rates as what MaxS is getting.

It use to be double that about 1 or 2 months before it became VCM.